It was AMAZING....

Last night I experienced the most amazing thing. I was on the computer while Phil was in the bed and we were talking, Phil gave that tell tale facial expression which I have come to know it as "Baby Movement Face". That's when the baby, Our Lil' Monkey, decides to flip around or just take a lap or two in Phil's stomach and Phil hasn't gotten used to it yet, so she gives this weird face. It's funnier when we are walking because she would literally just stop, then after the baby stops doing it's thing, then she'll start walking again. Well, no matter how much Phil felt it, I was never able to feel it.

Well, last night, for some reason, Our Lil' Monkey was up and around and bouncing off the walls. So I get off the computer to rub Phil's belly down with some cocoa butter and there it happened. I felt Our Lil' Monkey move! I think I have felt little twitches I guess before, but nothing where I could say yes i felt that. This time however, I mean baby was a moving. At one point I mean it was distinct, yes i felt that.

So we get out our little heart listener. What's that you ask? It's a small device that comes with 2 headsets which plugs in and then it has an amplifier that when the baby is in the right place you can hear its heartbeat and you can hear the movements. You can even record it. They say that the third trimester is better to hear, but we have picked up the heart beat and movement on it. Last night, wow, it was a party in there. Our Lil' Monkey was rocking out! I heard him just moving around like crazy. Then this morning again, we woke up and Our Lil' Monkey woke up to. I can't wait to the point where I can see him moving. Oh, I can't wait till we do our big Ultrasound and we see him and find out if Our Lil' Monkey will be on the Pink Team or the Blue Team.

Simply Amazing!

While we were in Ft. Myers, we were in our room and we were listening to some worship music. It was so spirit filling as we laid there together singing and we had the player on Phil's stomach and I was holding them, that I just started crying and just felt so lead to pray for my wife and Our Lil' Monkey and us.

Lord, I know You heard our cry and our prayers. I am still crying out to You to be with Phil and Our Lil' Monkey and us. Protect us, Provide for us, give us wisdom to be great and discerning parents and help us to give Our Lil' Monkey a foundation of Your Word and Spirit. Amen.

Peace Out Folks
Chris C.

Blog Import

Okay so I wanted to try something and see how it turned out. I had another personal blog going before I started this one about the baby. It was started just a few months before this one but I kind of just stopped that one completely. So I decided I wanted to include what my life was like and what I thought was 'important' pre pregnancy. So you may noticed a load of new posts at the beginning of the blog. If you wanna read them some time you can, most are my random mumbo jumbo talk.

My Body 18 Weeks

Okay folks, this is going to be a super duper short post. Chris, the parents and I just returned from an awesome time at Ft. Myers Beach. Had a great time at the beach and at the hotel pool. We turned 18 weeks while relaxing at the condo ... good times. We didn't have too much Internet access ... there was a Wifi signal but it was so weak it would take like 10 minutes for a page to load so we had to wait until we got back to make any posts or read what babycenter.com had to say about week 18.

As for me:

Honestly, this week I am feeling just ... okay. I think I am either coming down with something or I am having some 1st trimester relapse here and there. I feel kinda nauseous every now and then light headed. But it hasn't been that bad. Chris of course being the awesome husband and father to be that he is always does a search on my symptoms to make sure it is nothing serious so we have been taking the suggested advice and most have disappeared.

Oh one weired thing is that I am still tired at times but just came seem to be able to sleep during the days any more. Which I guess isn't too bad because I can get more done with my time ... but is this a sign of something being wrong???


Peace Out,
Philippa Channer

Reality is Setting in and Limitations are Rising

So this may sound weird but the reality of being pregnant is really starting to kick in now. You would have thought that this would have happened a while ago but I guess I am just a little slow. Up to now I have had that out of body type of approach to the experience. I kinda felt as if I was watching this happy couple go through this great experience and I was just an observer. But I am waking up to the fact that it really is me and this really is happening.

I think it helps now that my belly is really starting to grow and the baby is getting much larger now. My ever so cute and loving husband ... LOVE YOU CHRIS ... asked a few days ago while I was getting dressed "... hey Boogie, can you see your bikini line any more?" I of course giggled at the preposterous question thinking 'how silly is my husband,' when I looked down for myself and realized that even if I sucked in my tummy as much as I could, I could no longer see it for real. Not Cool!!!

And while I don't want to admit it just yet, I think this week will be the last time for a while that I will be able to 'comfortably' shave my own legs and do my own toe nails. I am sure it can be done, I will practice twisting my body is different ways to reach those 'not so far' extremities, I just haven't figured them out yet. Any suggestions or advice is very welcome.

Maybe this will be my new friend ...

But hey ... this is all for a good cause right ... the birth of a wonderful baby MONKEY!!!

Peace Out

The waiting game ...

Quick Post:

I woke up this morning just ready to see my baby. I know I know I have a long time to wait but I was just really excited this morning. I am ready to meet my little monkey.

Peace Out,
Philippa Channer

Our Hospital Tour...

Yesterday, we had our hospital tour at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. What did we think about it? Well, I'm not going to lie, but man the place looks great. The first thing you notice is the architecture. It's very unique. The building is well lit with the use of natural light which comes through the building's many many windows and quite secured. everyone entering the building most go through a security check in. Id's are checked and scanned and a badge is given out. On the badge, it has the name of the person, date, picture, and floor or room clearance. The folks at the front desk and security area were friendly. I liked this.

And so our tour began. First stop we made was the checking area. When the moms come in, they and another person would go to this area, get checked in, and then taken to her room. While in the room, they get the mom tested and hooked up to what ever monitoring machines needed. They only allow the mom and 1 other person during this time. All the other visitors have to stay in the waiting area which is located downstairs. But the waiting area is large and beautiful. Lots of chairs and from what I saw, 2 large flat screen TVs.

Once mom is all checked in and test and all that's done, then they allow 3 people at a time to be in the room. Those 3 people are whomever the mom wants and if you have a number of people, they can rotate. The rooms are a fairly nice size. They all have large windows, full bathrooms, not shared, flat screen wall mounted TVs, the monitoring device is wireless, there is wireless Internet, and the best part, if we wanted to carry our game system to hung up to the TV, we could :). When it comes time to have the baby, then it's mom plus 3 other people in the room.

After baby is born, there is a monitoring area right there in the room where the nurses can do their testing of the baby. After about 2 hours or so, mom and baby are carried to her recovery room. The mom, baby and 1 other person will have a tag and when the baby is carried to the nursery, the mom or the other person can go along. Oh here is the other security that I liked. All the babies' bracelet's has a sensor, that if it gets too close to the emergency exits, an alarm is activated and the floor locks down. Cool huh? Once everything is cleared, then it's back to normal. Other than that, you have to pass the nurses table and all babies are checked to see if they are with the right person.

The recovery room is also nice. Once again, large windows, private bathroom, TV and DVD player with access to free DVDs. Mom can get room service for food or massages or stuff like that. The way they said, was that they didn't want it to feel like a hospital, instead more like a spa.

I think the only thing which I didn't like was the parking. The parking was a little bit of a walk, unless you had it valeted, and since this place is fairly popular, it can be crowded at times. But the $4 for parking you play, covers 24hrs.

Is this where we were going to choose to have our baby? Don't know yet. We have the choice of 2 other hospitals. We have seen one, not on a tour but was there quite a bit. It was cool.

Here are some pictures.

Going thru the front door.Walking under the waterfall.
Inside the waiting area.

Mom delivery room.

Peace Out Folks

Chris C

A Letter To You:

Dear precious child,

As you continue to grow inside me I long to see your face and hear your voice. I think about you daily and wonder what you will be like. I talk to you occasionally but I am not sure if you can hear my voice yet. I had a few things I wanted to tell you but since you can't hear my yet I wanted to share it in a letter.

Baby, I pray that as you grow up